Slowly but steadily, I've been time-traveling through the early days of The Perfect Pantry, updating posts, tweaking recipes, fixing links, and adding photos of the food I cooked in the days before I photographed the food I cooked.

This month, I remade two quick-and-easy desserts, plus two dishes that require the kind of simmering on the stove top that tantalizes the whole house with irresistible aromas.

Miniphyllo shells come in handy when you need to dress up sweet or savory fillings. These teeny tiny lime tarts (in the top photo) are a perfect one-bite, no-cook dessert. Make the filling way ahead, and just before you're reading to serve, pipe the filling into the shells with a pastry bag.

Every one of my vegetarian friends and family members has eaten South End Deep Root Chili at my house. A vegan main dish made with the canned black beans always in my pantry, this chili uses apple juice as the base, and finishes with pasta and lemon. No, it's not traditional, but it's really, really good.

Caponata pairs eggplant with pantry ingredients (capers, olives, white wine vinegar) to make a relish that perks up fish, chicken, or pasta. One of my favorite ways to use caponata is on bruschetta, with goat cheese or brie spread on the toasted bread, topped with this tangy relish.

This cardamom yogurt topping makes an easy, instant dessert out of almost any grilled fruit. Here, I used summer peaches, but pears or apples work beautifully. Instead of blueberries, try lightly toasted (or caramelized) walnuts. I grilled my peaches on a panini press.

Enjoy!

Disclosure: The Perfect Pantry earns a few pennies on purchases made through the Amazon.com links in this post. Thank you for supporting this site when you start your shopping here.

(Name is required. Email address will not be displayed with the comment.)

Name is required to post a comment

Please enter a valid email address

Invalid URL

Name:

Email address:

URL:

Comment:

Welcome to The Perfect Pantry®

My name is Lydia Walshin. From my tiny kitchen in Boston's South End, I share recipes that use what we keep in our pantries, the usual and not-so-usual ingredients that spice up our lives. Thanks so much for visiting.